Questions and Answers:

Marcel has been practising Dutch and EU immigration law for over 21 years. His broad practice includes the full range of business immigration work for corporate clients across the globe. Annually listed in Who’s Who Legal, the guide now ranks him among the 10 most influential immigration attorneys in Europe.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS?

The notion that immigration is not a purpose in itself, but a means to an end. You must understand the client’s intentions and ambitions when moving to another country and seek to find the immigration solution that fits.

HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR PRACTICE DEVELOPING OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS?

Applications will remain a large portion of our work and we anticipate an increasing demand for advice on compliance and right to work checks as the government continues to increase its enforcement efforts on compliance and illegal employment.

DESCRIBE YOUR CAREER TO DATE

I was admitted to the bar in 1996 and started my practice at Everaert where I became a partner in 2002. I have worked in immigration since I started practice and became more and more involved with the corporate work as the firm’s focus shifted to corporate immigration in the late 1990s. In the last few years, I have developed a particular interest in the immigration aspects of mergers and acquisitions and other corporate restructuring. These aspects are not always properly dealt with and quite often even overlooked during the merger process, which can cause huge problems.

HOW DO YOU EXPECT THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE REGULATION, WHICH TOOK EFFECT ON JULY 1 THIS YEAR, TO IMPACT MIGRATION IN THE NETHERLANDS? HOW WILL THIS AFFECT YOUR PRACTICE?

I have been involved in consultations when this regulation was drafted. It offers great benefits for cross-border service providers, provided the Labour Directorate will adopt a generous interpretation of the requirements.

HAVE THERE BEEN ANY PARTICULARLY ACTIVE INDUSTRIES FOR MIGRATION WORK IN THE NETHERLANDS OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS?

The IT and consultancy sectors are doing particularly well. More in general we have seen an increasing demand for labour and employment-related immigration due to the overall growth of the Dutch economy in the last 12 months.

HOW DOES EVERAERT ADVOCATEN DISTINGUISH ITSELF FROM THE COMPETITION?

The core of our philosophy is that the government is not our enemy but our immigration counterpart. We try to remain at the forefront of immigration law and policymaking to be able to voice the needs of our clients when policies are drafted, rather than having to challenge bad policies in court. This being said, our lawyers have litigated landmark cases before the national courts and the European Court of Justice.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO LAWYERS LOOKING TO SPECIALISE IN CORPORATE IMMIGRATION LAW?

Know and understand your client’s business and try to be as proactive as you can possibly be. Always put your client’s interest first but refuse to commit to anything that would go against your integrity.

Biography:

Marcel is a partner and co-head of the firm’s corporate immigration practice. He brings over 22 years’ experience across all immigration routes with a particular emphasis on employment-related and business-related categories, including but not limited to highly-skilled migrant, intra-corporate transfer, European Blue Card and the self-employed and investor categories. He has significant experience in handling immigration aspects of mergers and acquisitions and other corporate restructuring, compliance with sponsor duties and cross-border service provision involving the posting of workers with customers in the EU.

Marcel’s clients range from long-established international companies across the globe in need of high-volume application work to start-up companies and entrepreneur-investors.

Marcel is a contributing co-editor to the leading commentary on the Dutch Immigration Act, editor-in-chief and case annotator to the Journal on Immigration Law and chief of the editorial board of Jurisprudence on Immigration Law, the Dutch immigration jurisprudence series. He has developed the Dutch Bar Association’s course on immigration law for trainee attorneys and served the Ministry of Justice as an expert adviser in the immigration policy reform, Modern Migration Policies. Marcel regularly speaks at national and international conferences

Marcel has been a partner since 2002 and is the current executive chair of the firm’s board. He is an active member of the International Bar Association and an active international associate with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, where he is the current chair of the Global Migration Section’s analytics committee. He is a member of the Dutch specialist associations for immigration attorneys, SVMA and WRV.

WWL says: Marcel Reurs is a prominent figure in the market who is "excellent" in all matters relating to Dutch immigration.

This biography is an extract from Who's Who Legal: Corporate Immigration which can be purchased from our Shop.

Nominees have been selected based upon comprehensive, independent survey work with both general counsel and private practice lawyers worldwide. Only specialists who have met independent international research criteria are listed.